One Abode Above
by KontonNoKaze
Summary: Three times below the Surface. It took them three lives to honor their promise. A childish, innocent vow to the one they know and love, to friends, to a newfound family. Now, they only want to lay down on this hallowed ground of theirs. They know they will be missed, but they cannot go back to the living. At least, not for now.
1. Five Years Apart (I)

**Aru here, again,**

 **Thank you** **for reading the "sequel" of Three Times Below**

 **This would have come much later if I kept my old works going, but no, I had to be** whimsical **and all at some point about fanfic-ing.**

 **This "sequel" is purely experimental, it will definitely get heavily edited once Three Times Below is completed, for obvious reasons.**

 **Just wanted to double my workload and uh, make a Surface story because why the f*ck not.**

 **You know the drill, vote if you like, review if you want to - those are important for my growth as a soon-to-be author, like seriously.**

 _* Chapters 2 - 10 being rewritten._

* * *

It was finally over.

The magical barrier shattered, opening a door that had been closed for an awfully long time.

Once the Prince gave back all the SOULs he unwillingly gathered, he reverted back to being the annoying flower he was.

He watched a ghost human hovering near the newly found entrance, hesitant to cross the purple doorframe.

No matter how much their beloved fellow human pleaded, the SOUL they once had would never go back to the body buried under a golden flowerbed.

The SOULless flower, who tagged along the saviors of Monsterkind, witnessed the whole parting scene. He was disgusted by the amount of fluff both of them publicly expressed, but hadn't said a word about it.

Instead, he watched the human parting with their lover. They "hugged" each other, knowing they would not see each other for some time. He somehow craved the same attention, but he already parted with his best friend when he was the prince.

"What you're waiting for, brat?"  
The flower turned to scold the ghastly human, who hadn't moved much since their lover left.

"Nothing, not going with them anyway."

Flowey - a name he took after his father's bad naming habits - twitched, spending more time with a depressed ghost wasn't exactly what he planned to do.

"You don't make sense, do you? You just SAVE'd all of us down here, and now you want to haunt this place forever?" Hurry up and go get your SOUL back, you have a lover, a family, and a bunch of idiots to be with upstairs !"

The child went the other, instead of exiting through the door, they floated to the deserted home of the King. Flowey followed them, he had nothing else to do anyways.

"He didn't even bother to take my stuff with him."

The child, named Frisk, giggled at how silly this flower was. They looked at the room, one they've been into three times already.

"That's my bed, you idiot, get off it."

Frisk did as they were told to, not feeling like arguing with a pissed off flower. "Resting" on the other mattress, they started reminiscing every memory left on the fabric of their lover's bed.

Their gentle touch, their bloodred gaze, their soft moans, their sly smile.

It was too good to be true.

The ghost felt like crying, tears flowing down their cheeks. Flowey only sighed at the weeping child, he had no idea what to do or say in that instance.

After a while, Frisk stopped and curled up into a ball. They wanted to sleep, to forget they ever felt a thing for that person.

"You're pretty emotional, you SOULless brat."

Flowey starting a conversation wasn't exactly the escape mechanism they needed, but there was no other available option.

"I guess we are the same, Flowey."  
Flowey, irritated at the comparison, almost doubled in size as he loomed on the sniffling kid.

 _ **"Wh-what the hell are you talking about?!"**_

Frisk wasn't scared at all, they knew that flower could no longer harm them. Even if they were able to, they wouldn't feel a thing.

"We're both emotional, SOULless, and stuck here."

Flowey shrunk back, a little taken aback by the child' stern looks. He maybe was used to their poker faces, but that was the first time the brat looked ... serious?

"Just because I'm keeping you company doesn't mean you should be cheeky."

Frisk giggled at the grumbling Flowey, then slowly floated back to the Garden, to take a nap there.

Chara was on their mind, but it didn't hurt that much anymore.

After all, they were smiling as they dozed off, bathed in sunlight.

* * *

Chara didn't want any of the whole peacemaking process and tough negotiations with the nearby villages.

King Dad wanted to take over and try handling things, but Goat Mom convinced them not to. Humans would be a little more receptive to one of their own, even if that wouldn't change much to their own beliefs.

The freshly appointed Monster Ambassador went to talk to people they didn't know, trying to ease their worries about the recent magical explosion and the emerging monsters.

Most people were still hesitant to welcome monsters in open arms, usually meeting them with firearms and other weaponry. However, they ended up dropping those once Chara delivered their speech.

It took as much as two months to convince the nearby human populations to let monsters be, and allow them to build their own little town. Monsters took whatever materials they could find in the Underground, and slowly started bulding then moving to their new housings.

Chara was happy, sort of.

They did it, they saved the monsters like they promised to do with Asriel.

It took them several timelines and much sacrifices to get there, sacrifices they wish they hadn't made.

Granted, their own body and SOUL was expendable, but Frisk was the one thing they regretted losing. It was too high of a cost, even for the sake of Monsterkind.

Toriel and Asgore did their best to comfort Chara, taking them again as their foster child and giving them a room of their own. Both monster parents were happy to do so, having tried to work things out since their last argument.

Although Chara was glad they got their family back, they still needed to see Frisk.

Perhaps after things settle down, they could visit them.

Before they drifted to sleep, they tiredly pulled out both lockets hanging on their neck.

 **"Best Friends Forever"**  
Asriel's, a golden heart like that of their long lost brother.

 **"Frisky"**  
Frisk's, a faintly pulsing red light, gently warming their being like the one they left behind.

Chara gripped both lockets as she closed her eyes, memories flowing in her mind as she finally went to dreamland.

* * *

Six months later.

Both SOULless partners went back to where it all started, passing by a few monsters busy packing up their luggage.

It seems everybody was eager to live up there, ignoring the danger humans once posed.

Humans, huh?

Frisk wondered how a particular human was doing.

"you thinkin' about demon gurl again?"

Just when sans showed up out of nowhere, grinning as usual.

Flowey was about to hide in a corner, but got caught by Papyrus who also came back to pick up a few things.

"Hey Sans, Hey Paps', you know Flowey, right?"

Flowey grumbled something, then stopped to shake leaves with the two skeletons.

"OH, YOU MUST BE THAT FLOWER WHO GATHERED ALL OF US THAT ONE TIME!"

"yup, wonder what's he doing here with the kid."

"None of your business."

Frisk stood - rather floated - between them, wanting to stop the upcoming FIGHT.

"Guys ! NO FIGHTING !"

Papyrus joined the fray and grabbed Sans by the collar, eventually dragging him to Snowdin.

"paps, hold on."

"NO, SANS. THE HUMAN SAID NO FIGHTING, AND I KNOW YOU'LL DO THE TOTAL OPPOSITE !"

"seriously, gotta tell the kid something."

Papyrus sighed, then headed off alone to the skelebros' house with empty crates. Sans followed him once he whispered what he needed to convey to Frisk.

"she's here, for an hour or two."

Frisk' smile was wide and genuine.

Flowey was busy ranting on someone for putting him in a pot, when he saw Frisk going back to the ruins at top speed.

"What the- okay, you ! Sit right there while I catch up with that stupid child !"

The flower grew vines to break their pot and "ran", following the ghost past the forest then into the Ruins' basement.

When Frisk smelled the scent of cake and tea, they rushed to the room. Slowly becoming corporeal again, they embraced an unexpecting Chara.

Blushing madly, the older human hugged back, taking the time to see if Frisk was alright.

"Hello there, Chocolate."

Frisk giggled, they hadn't felt this good for quite some time.

"Hey Red ! Missed you ... a lot !"


	2. Five Years Apart (II)

Chara only managed to see Frisk two or three times during the first Monster year on the surface.

Their meetings were a bit awkward, as they just often just stared at each other for a while. Chara tried to hand the pendant to Frisk, the one who had their SOUL pulsing in.

Each time they met however, Frisk's refusal got stronger, making Chara wonder if they would ever accept to live with them on the surface.

The couple eventually indulged into couple antics after remaining silent, so they forget the burden of a reality both slowly started to realize.

They may not outlast the fact of being apart.

As Chara felt Frisky's cold lips warm up due to their neck assault, they would sneak a hand under their lover' shirt. Frisk's cold skin wasn't enough to make Chara withdraw their hand, but those scars Frisk had all over their growing body did.

Chara shuddered at that direct hit on the heart they inflicted, when times were gruesome. Chara would often pause there as they caressed around that scar, making Frisk question them with squinted eyes.

"What is it, Red?"

Chara looked at chocolate orbs before carefully leaning on Frisk's chest.

"Just remembering another rough episode of ours, child."

Their lover giggled at the word, one Frisk used to hate when they first met.

"We're no longer children, then."

It was true, they've grown into soon-to-be adults. Hell, Chara had already took grown-ups responsibilities as she juggled with high school and public life.

Frisk, on the other hand, was being responsible of their own mishaps. They punished themselves by staying here, but it was better than living with guilt over dark times.

Whenever Chara or Frisk pecked or marked their love on each other, they revived that old flame of theirs. As long as they did not caress their respective scars and bruises, they felt the same excitement they lived before that unfortunate event.

The second and third meeting went like that as well, each with their own ups and downs. While Chara and Frisk managed to keep those as lovey-dovey as they could, the baked cakes tasted bitter, and the brewed tea was sour.

* * *

 _E_ _ighteen_ _months later,_

Chara had managed to enroll into high school once they finished the bigger part of negotiations with Capital City. They succeeded in earning some external recognition, as well as lands near Mt. Ebott.

There was no schooling facility available there, so Chara transfered to the Capital's high school along Toriel and Undyne.

Goat Mom insisted to accompany Chara in her capacity of legal tutor, and Undyne was convinced by Sans to be a Royal Bodyguard for the duration of their "assignment".

"Here you go punk, see you at five."

They were dropped by Undyne in some car, allegedly offered by the human state for their trouble. Chara almost refused it, but Undyne rode it back home before anyone said anything about it.

Chara sighed, then entered a standard human school. Things haven't changed much, everybody focused their gaze on the new student as per usual.

"She's ... human?"

Great, someone figured out their gender right away.

"Must have monster genes by now."  
Chara expected that one to come, and it didn't hurt at all either.

"She looks ... plain?"

True, Chara had little time to shop for clothes or pamper herself. Between official meetings, sit-downs with regular humans, paperwork to fill and the massive migration work to handle, she had barely any break from work.

"Hey, monster !"

Someone finally stepped up and tried to bother her. Chara did not try to get back at them, that was just another bully that wanted to prove themselves.

"Stop it, people ! I think I ... I know her from somewhere."

A blonde girl, who looked quite popular, approached Chara.

"I knew it, you're Chara !"

Chara froze, she was sure no one knew her name around here. She looked back at the girl, and noticed a familiar red ribbon.

"Patience?"

The tall, boyish blonde grinned and took Chara's hand before leading the new student to her clique.

"Name's Sabrina, you know?"

Sabrina whispered that to her, like they were already best friends.

"Sorry, forgot about that one."

Chara honestly did, she had no idea any of the fallen humans would be alive. She does not remember befriending any of them either, but she went with it anyways.

"People, that girl kinda saved us from being ... well, lost in Mt. Ebott. Take care of her please."

Everyone in Sabrina's group started laughing really hard - at least, two of the boys did, the other just kind of chuckled.

Before Chara thought of snapping at anyone, she recognized all of them in a jiffy. Of course, the fallen humans just happened to bond together and end up at the same high school.

"You all... how come ...?"

Chara rattled her head to no avail, she and Frisk managed to save humans too, unexpectedly.

"We do not know either." Said Justice.

"Sure, but ... we were out there." Bravery continued .

"And sadly, we were undressed." Kindness concluded, with a small laugh.

Two other girls fidgeted, looking embarassed at each other. Chara spotted a tutu and cloudy glasses, which means they're Integrity and Perseverance.

"Anyways, Determinat-"

The stiff look on Chara's face and her glowing orbs made Sabrina retract her statement.

"Ahem, Chara ... we're here for you. Nobody's going to bother you if you stick around, except that kind of idiots from earlier."

Chara smiled, she was glad she managed to get past the door without making too much of a fuss.

"I can handle myself."

Bravery spoke up, making everyone cringe at that sentence of his.

"We know that, gorilla girl. We still gonna be around anyways."

Chara looked at the boy, giggled then whispered back to Sabrina, who ended up in a hysterical fit of laughter.

"What makes you laugh your arse over, mate?"

 _"Juicy."_

Everyone smiled except Bravery, who pouted before trying a friendly jab at Sabrina.

The day went quite fast in company of those humans, and she soon enough found herself in the car.

"Hey punk, how's human school?"

"Better than expected, Fishface."

Undyne grinned, focusing back on the road before letting Chara know she had a few things to do in their new office.

Chara simply sighed, she just wanted to go home and see Frisk whenever she could. She wanted to make up for those few bad dates, and try to convince him to come with her.

She was just afraid she would not do it on time.

* * *

 _Second Monster Year,_

Frisk and Flowey became friends, somewhat, and hanged out casually in the now empty Underground. They pretty much explored every nook and cranny of it, even the former True Lab and the monsters still living in.

Alphys wanted to bring them back on a later date, but she had to prepare an equally large laboratory for the mutants. For the time being, Frisk and Flowey took care of the Amalgamates, feeding them and comforting them when needed.

"Ugh, another day went by and that giant, multi-headed dog just ate everything on his plate before trying to CHEW me up, AGAIN !"

Frisk looked at Flowey with a falsely empathic face, one the flower easily figured out and grumbled at. Truth is, Frisk was no fan of dogs either - or petting for that matter - but they had nothing better to do.

Whenever someone requested them to do something, they gladly accepted and focused on the task at hand. Whether it was doing patrols for Papyrus, hanging out with Napstablook, or fetching items for Aster, he gladly obliged.

Flowey always happened to be there and got enlisted to help Frisk out. He often ranted about it before giving up and finished whatever was asked as quickly as possible.

The Underground was safe in their hands, for now.

Frisk had been able to recover a tiny portion of their SOUL, thanks to Chara's visits. They used those to help Flowey, who often was begrudgingly doing all the physical labor.

It was far from being enough to revive them, not that they planned to be back to the living either.

Sure, they could lift a few things for old Underground denizens or pet Endogeny while Flowey fed the amalgamate. The rest of their duties did not require anything corporeal in particular, and they managed to tap on their SOUL fragment as little as possible.

Yet, the faint red glow in their dark container grew thinner each month.

They haven't heard from Chara in a while, and it was somewhat a relief. Frisk was worried about how wrong these last meetings felt, but they were not ready to change thei- No, they were pretty sure they will not.

It was for her sake that they put their life on the line after all.

Granted, she loved them **very much so,** and wouldn't be able to hold it together without seeing them once in a while. Even so, it was wrong for Frisk to accept being revived just like that. They thought that the last run would help them make peace with themselves, they thought they could finally let go of those horrors that gnawed at every inch of their body.

They were wrong, sins still crawled on their back. Living with Chara, as they promised, could never happen as they are now. Everything they vowed to do three timelines ago went south, so being a ghost was perhaps the best choice to make.

"Never thought rabbits and books could correlate ... Fifteen crates to carry all the way to that hole on the mountain for f*ck' sake ... FIFTEEN !"

Frisk snapped out at Flowey's ranting, glad he did not noticed the hazy look on the ghost child he begrudingly befriended for some time now.

"Hey, brat."

Or perhaps he did, after all. Frisk floated away to escape, but Flowey plopped in and out to corner them each time.

"STAND STILL, FOR THE LOVE OF G- oh wait you dare float your way out again ... FRISK ! FREEZE !"

Frisk got enough of that chasing pattern and gave up, turning back to face Flowey.

"So, _brat,_ it is about time you and I get to chat about **you know what.** "


	3. Five Years Apart (End)

_Third Monster Year,_

Frisk was in their "room.", somewhere in that empty place the living called the Void. They only managed to access it once in a while, when they were at their worst.

It was a replica of that blood room they say during genocide, and they enabled access to it for some reason. Whenever they hit rock bottom, their mind slowly slipped away and fled there.

Physically, Frisk was in that Snowdin Inn, booking a free room for services completed. They managed to remember where they met Chara the last time they were alive.

Their mind, however, was in a puddle of blood. Arms protruded from the ground and seeked to embrace them. They wanted Frisk to join the ranks of the forgotten, they wanted him to fade.

And that, he wouldn't mind at all now.

Chara had been listening to the conversation they had with Flowey all along, when it was actually supposed to be a birthday surprise.

Chara tried her best to take that day off, pushing every meeting she had and rattling her mind to find a proper gift.

The date was that of the barrier's destruction, which was somehow every monster birthday in the surface world. She had picked up a few things, not knowing what a proper gift would be.

Some chocolate, a sweater, an apron, a pendant, and some slippers sans threw in without her noticing.

Chara brought that box along, hoping to surprise Frisk. They found them talking to something, a wiggly strange flowey in a pot.

Taking a closer look, she ascertained it was Flowey, the one who had a tiny bit of Asriel's consciouness. Slowly closing in, she listened behind that cage Papyrus tried to put her inside, one timeline ago.

"So, you know, that _little goat_ had been bothering my pea brain about getting you all chummy again with Chara."

"You want me to go to the surface?"

"Everyone did, you **idiot."**

"I'd rather stay here."

"What's the matter, _brat,_ you helped her SAVE monsterkind, and now you're alone down here for three _freaking_ years !"

"It's better that way, you know that."

" I can't believe I'm **saying that** but ... **you** helped the monsters get out ... **you** revived their long lost angel ... **you** did all they wished for, and you wanna hang out in their old jail?"

"I do, the surface isn't made for me."

"What, because you don't wanna go on another rampage?"

Frisk "froze", that was part of the answer. They also feared the whole going back into the human world, obviously feeling safer here.

"It's not like that crazy skeleton couple is out there anymore, I mean ... she's gone for good and he went up with the others."

They haven't heard of Arial since they met her a few times, in that last run to SAVE monsterkind.

"Even so, it's not entirely her fault, if I wasn't that weak, I ..."

Chara saw Frisk slowly materialize themselves, tapping on magical reserves she had no knowledge of. Her mind wasn't able to realize why or how Frisk could revive outside of touching that pendant.

It was whatever mutual love they had that kept them going, and slowly recovered Frisk' heart-shaped lifeline. Chara, however, never saw that as a possibility.

She simply stopped at the fact that they could be alive, and stroll back to the surface without her help.

They have been denying been able to go up because they were a ghost, Chara suggested to live together as "siblings" while their SOUL was recovering, and wait for that pair of scientists to get their SOUL back to their body.

Chara felt a little betrayed, they could have tried once in those three years to grant her that little wish of hers.

Loving them, dating them, living with them in the surface. Whatever took them three timelines was at reach, but Frisk never accepted that.

She wondered if she did not need some time off, images of their parting flashing through her mind.

The Mettaton show, their broken SOUL, their petty argument, their weird reunion, them making out in New Home.

Every piece of memory Chara had of them was making her tear up, for she wanted those to go away. She wanted to stop loving them.

They already had a "pause" once, and it went pretty badly, even so, she couldn't stomach another lie.

She simply wanted out of there, her legs turned around and ran. She didn't care to be exposed, or if someone followed her. She just wanted to get out of there before her heart constricts further.

Frisk and Flowey heard someone running to New Home, then noticed a box floating on the river. While Frisk went to catch the running shadow, while Flowey followed the lost box, both thinking it was some intruder prying on them.

Frisk soon managed to catch up to Chara, who turned back to slap them. It wasn't the first time they did, but this one stinged much more than any other.

Perhaps was it because she did it while crying her heart and ran to exit.

Frisk did not bother chasing her, they knew what they said, they knew they weren't ready to go and face the world. Deep down, they were aware they broke her heart for good, but they convinced themselves it was for them.

Little they knew about what broke her heart, thus one year went by, then came the next without them seeing each other.

* * *

 _Fifth Monster Year,_

The Monster Kingdom was now recognized by a few more countries, thanks to the work of the retiring ambassador. The past two years were intense, juggling between school and office work was a pain, but she could finally delegate some work to King Dad.

Sans lived in the first village with Papyrus and Aster, the later commuting to the city six days a week to oversee Alphys' work.

Sans tried getting back into that field, but his father convinced him not to, so as to preserve both his health and sanity.

Papyrus worked hard as a Royal Guard with his brother, both accompanying Asgore for visits. They made quite the impression, more often that of a comical duo than anything else.

It eased up some tense negotiations, and Sans was clever enough to earn some compromise should the other parties be stiffer than a cadaver.

Papyrus did catering after he got some help from Toriel, managing to both earn humans good food and bad laughs. That unusal strategy earned some merit among neighboring countries, who studied the matter more in-depth.

Alphys earned her keep with SOUL research, who helped cure diseases without any other form of medication. Earned with scorn and resistance from fellow scientists, they gradually opened up to it after Undyne kindly asked for it - in an Undyne fashion.

Fishface was still Chara's driver and bodyguard, taking her to school and back without minding trafic lights that much. She noticed that demon was not feeling well, but dared not ask why.

All she heard was her friends talking about how down she is, and even Goat Mom couldn't manage to make her talk.

Chara thought of him, now that she remembers clearly his gender.  
She had his things packed and loaded since day one, hoping he would move at some point. She had a room ready for him back at the village, and even in the capital city.

Chara looked the few things she retrieved from Frisk's multiple foster families, as well as a few items she bought him with her own money.

A doodle book, a few pencils, a diary, couple clothes, a plushie, books and chocolate bars, and a backpack.

She always wondered what was on that diary, putting back the rest into a box then storing it in a cellar. Once she got back, wind blowing from the window opened an entry at a random page.

Chara hesitated quite some time before looking, smiling at how cute his handwriting was. She passed her hand through every line, reading the entry out loud.

 _October_ _25th,_

 _I learned that was the day mother died, I had no idea it was today, but a social service lady asked about it before informing my third family for this year._

 _I'm not exactly thrilled to go there, I would like to know where Mother's grave is, take the day and stay with her. Dad never went to see her, and never talked about it either._

 _Mom used to tease me before she got sick, telling me I would meet a little girl and all. I wish she was still here, so she can see me meeting a girl later on. Anyone other than those people bullying me - girls included._

 _I would like her to see me watch over that girl like she did to me, and not let the girl ..._

 _ **Die.**_

Chara stopped reading, closed the diary and left it there, plopping on the bed. The last word ringed through her very being a thousand times.

Of course that idiot would die to make her happy, at his own expense.

That is why they "broke up" without a word or an argument, just left it there. It was extremely painful, but it was justified somehow.

She didn't want him to die for her, especially if he could be revived. His stubborn refusal made her give it up and try to live a life.

Chara's feeling slowly faded in the past two years, as she was now a university student with the same high-school clique she had. She then met Arthur, the same bully that tried to rally up people against her.

Turns out this boy was more than a brainless bully, and after getting to know each other, they started hanging out.

Arthur had stopped being a bully, at least in front of Chara, and asked her out a few times, almost once every semester.

Chara made him wait until her senior year, but he didn't flinch, so they started dating for the past three months.

He made everything to please her, and she felt like opening more to him. However, she never let him go beyond pecks and hugs, for some reason Arthur couldn't tell.

Chara felt stupid not to be able to properly invest herself on that dating trial, since she really tried to love her newly acquired boyfriend. She wasn't able to let anyone touch her the way Frisk did, perhaps she would allow with time.

Arthur, slowly converting back to being a jerk and openly bullying people again, was getting unnerved by Chara's chastity. Their dates often resulted in her avoiding further advances from him, and ended when he tried to feel her up in an alley.

* * *

The last semester approached, Chara had been distant with almost everyone, and Arthur had been plotting a petty revenge plan.

But what made local news was the appearance of a boy, five years later, after all monsters evacuated Mt. Ebott. He was hospitalised from weeks, then finally woke up to a flower pot in some bedroom.

"Hello there, sleepy, _took you long enough."_


	4. Living Above 101

Flowey waited for a long time before Frisk finally managed to wake up, weeks after being hospitalized the moment he got on Aster's door.

 _Six weeks ago,_

Luckily, sans was yet to take his ritual afternoon nap. Papyrus had been asked to prepare spaghetti for a reception - he managed to get good at it - and Aster was working at the Capital City Research Facility.

When sans heard someone knock that day, he expected some monster to invite him for _yet another_ round of puns at Grillby's. He wasn't really up to it, but he wouldn't turn down a way to pass time.

Sans' shift usually started by 10 pm, when his brother was done being a apprentice chef. He wasn't doing anything else, besides testing amateur time-space travels and watching TV. He occasionally dropped by Grillby's for some Ketchup and bad laughs too, when he felt like doing so.

He was not expecting a human to drop on the floor when he opened the door, nor was sure what to do about them. After checking them up, his pupils were gone for a minute.

" ... kid?"

He recognized the last Genocider, the one who killed almost every single monster before meeting the same end. Frisk was panting heavily, his sweater was smeared in blood and dirt, and he was in pain.

" ... i thought ... you were dead?"

" Ha ... I ... wanted to stay ... that way ... but ..."

Frisk coughed up some blood, clutching on sans' hoodie as he tried to finish his sentence. The skeleton's pupils were back to normal, as he hastily reached to his pocket. Frisk pulled on the blue hoodie as hard as he could, just as sans was about to dial his dad's number.

" she ... is a stubborn ... one ... and I ... still ... lo-"

Frisk coughed up some more blood, before his temperature went down and he started passing out. Sans hurried to call Aster, who used his limited teleport ability to come and get Frisk to Alphys' department.

The lizard scientist hasn't changed much in five years, except she managed to confess to Undyne and share a house back at Monster Village.

The usually daring Undyne blushed hard, so hard it made her legs melt slightly. Alphys panicked and brought her to the lab, then stabilized her mental state with a couple anime episodes.

She, like all monsters, was surprised to see Frisk in the Arms of Dr. Aster, wondering how the human managed to get up here in his pitiful state. His limbs were profusely scarred, his skin was dangerously pale and his SOUL throbbed inconsistently.

Aster and Alphys quickly brought up the nearly functional SOUL fusion machine, hoping they could SAVE the dying human. They knew the chances were slim, but they had to take the risk for the good of Monsterkind.

A dead human in land governed by monsters, even unintentional, would ruin all the peace efforts Chara made. Moreover, Aster wanted to repay back the favor he owes the child. A human who gave him enough DETERMINATION to exist permanently, one he intended to SAVE now.

Once they placed the pendant, they took old vial samples from Aster's blood. They also had a few samples from Chara, which intended to use them to revive Frisk, but desisted herself lately.

It took two slowly injected batches and a long hour of ear-piercing screams to stabilize Frisk, who almost broke off his shackles and summoned his genocide persona. Thankfully, the pure SOUL had fought its corruption, and won by a hair' breadth.

Frisk was then brought to a human hospital, to be kept alive and secure his vital functions. He could have stayed in the lab, but Aster thought ot was better that way. He brought along some Flower Papyrus catched in the garden, he made a pot plant out of it too.

Flowey was extremely pissed, he couldn't break free from this bone-made pot. He also tried to rant at Papyrus, but the skelebro was too bubbly to even bother listening. When he was given to Aster, he simply sighed and played along.

Flowey sort of nursed Frisk for an entire six weeks while chasing off persistent reporters, feeding the kid apples, and banning most visitors from entering the room.

* * *

 _One day before Midterms week,_

Chara had been doing okay since her second break-up in a row, and was preparing her midterm exams. She has chosen a new and unpopular major in University, aka Home Economics, and had the former Fallen SOULS accompany her.

With only around fifteen students in class, there was little to no chance of failing a class. That did not keep the handful of students from enjoying it, and all of them passed their classes without a trouble.

Their last year, however, was a little hard on them. New monster teachers were assigned, and they made it hard to get a passing grade.  
King Asgore teached a Monday class in Gardening, where he had students learn about different seeds, soils and tricks to keep a outstanding green space.

Asgore was the nicest of the bunch, although the sheer amount of details in his class made it hard for students. Chara had the most trouble with it, since she was not a fan of golden flowers. Nonetheless, she managed to get a C+ so far, hoping she could score some points on the exam.

Rahim, who loved cooking, still have a long way to Master Papyrus' Spaghetti and Toriel's pies recipes. He wasn't one to quit however, and scored a B- up to now.

Sabrina hated Sans' chemistry class, mostly because he didn't care to explain enough. He also filled his slideshows with lousy puns, and made students answer that way sometimes. With her C grade, however, she wasn't done for yet.

Umeno struggled with the extensive knowledge of Gerson, who focused on food history. She wasn't a big eater, and sampling antique roducts was part of the grade for some odd reason. Still, she stayed close to 79%.

Valiant, Pravda and Elaine did okay in every subject, always closing on a B. They had however to gather into a study group to pull it off. All three worked on their individual weaknesses inviting the others if they wanted to join them.

Chara was about to come over her friends' common house, since they refused any foster families and petitioned to stay on their own. Of course, Chara worked hard to pay for their expenses, she somehow wanted to repay them for their gratitude.

On her way home, she noticed a couple journalists hanging around her apartment complex. All of them nearly harassed Toriel about a new human apparition from Mt. Ebott, making Undyne jump at them and almost throw the car at the wave of paparazzis.

While Chara checked on Goat Mom and had her come inside, she also felt like something tearing up her insides. Frisk could be the only human left to come forth from Mt. Ebott. Question is, why would he do that now? Wasn't he extremely reticent to living in the surface?

Chara remembered taking a gift box, but thought the contents were lost in the river running through the Underground. She had thrown the presents out of frustration, then ran away without turning back until she had to slap Frisk.

She ruled out the possibility Frisk would ever bother to retrieve those gifts she brought along, but she was proven wrong. Frisk retrieved the pendant and came back to the surface, probably looking to reconcile with her.

She, however, was not ready to have him back into her life. Time had almost her feelings extinct, save for allowing anyone to touch her. Except Toriel, Asgore, Undyne, Alphys and her small group of friends who were hugging her just fine, the rest was not okay.

Meanwhile, Frisk has been briefed by Flowey about what happened during his slumber. The Flower also gave him a strange present from Aster, some book freshly designed for the newly resurrected humans.

 **"LIVING ABOVE 101 : Guide to a Normal Human Life"**

Frisk sighed, this does not look like the type of literature he would enjoy in a hospital

* * *

 _ **Aru here,**_

 _ **Yes, making up a college major ain't no fun, but it was needed.**_

 _ **True, there isn't much dialogue running, but I can have them talk only when it is necessary I guess.**_

 _ **Reviews and votes help this story a lot as well.**_

 _ **Three Times Below too does benefit from that, check it out pretty please - Chapters come on Weekends for that one.**_

 _ **I am also part of a French / English Discord Server for readers and writers. It is pretty neat, gets a weekly event and have members help each other to do better at their craft or discover new readings.**_

 _ **If you care to join, link is on my profile description =)**_


	5. Living Above 102

Frisk read the entire book, listening to Flowey's comments on human societies. He slowly remembered most of the content, since that book was edited for monsters to live on the surface. Aster only gave Frisk that reading because he wasn't fully human now, and that he may be confronted to some kind of racism from his once fellow humans. Flowey looked at the boy lost in thought, gave him a leaf slap, after which he lost a petal.

"AW ! FRISK ! WHAT THE HELL ?!"

Flowey snapped, like his usual self, while Frisk hasn't batted an eye.

"You knew that would happen, Flower Boy."

"As _you_ know how much I hate that nickname your ex gave me, anyways ~"

Frisk flinched at the mention of an "ex", he was pretty sure nothing was really over between him and Chara - or at least, that's what he wanted to believe.

"Flowey"

The pot plant gave him his usual pissed off face, after ranting about a passage on how SOULless beings should behave on the surface.

"Yeah? You want some?"

Frisk giggled, he liked Flowey somehow, for not being totally honest with how nice he was to the boy.

"Do you think Chara could ever forgive me?"

Flowey remained silent, Frisk looked at the flower withering slowly, then getting back into shape.

"You know, it's like how they hate me, I betrayed them too ... "

Frisk's SOUL ached a bit, but he knew Flowey would say that. The boy was just trying to find a reason not to cling on to hope any harder, but when he thought he should give up on Chara, Flowey continued.

"She came to see you, a week before you wake up. She never entered the room, just stayed there, whining like the kid she never was. The idiot also threw daggers at me, I guess she can't stomach we're pals or something."

Frisk snuggled Flowey a bit, who sighed but gave in to the embrace for a bit.

"Alright, enough cuddles, you're making a flower _sweat_ goddamit."

Frisk laughed at Flowey's eagerness to part from the hug, then obliged.

"Did she say anything?"

"Nah, she just came two or three times, never said a word. She stares at you, cries a bit, then leaves."

Frisk looked sad, Chara was probably determined to end whatever they had together. He would love to go and get here back right away, but he had to be discharged first and then find some place to live.

A portal opened in the middle of the room, and one chubby skeleton popped out of it, grinning as usual.

"Hey sans."

"Howdy, Bonehead."

"hello, kids."

Flowey didn't exactly like being called a kid, but Frisk muffled him before he starts a FIGHT with sans over nothing.

"peachy?"

"Yeah, more like flowery to be honest."

Flowey complained some more, as Frisk held his mouth shut knowing he just pissed him off too.

"not bad, kid, anyways ... i'm here to discuss something with ya."

"Yes?"

Sans seemed serious for once, and Frisk didn't like the sight of it.

"you wanna move with us, kid? i mean ... after you get out from here."

Frisk got out of the bed, nearly dropping Flowey who hung himself at the mattress. The boy slowly made his way to hug sans, who awkwardly returned it.

"I really thought you'd hate me as well."

"why would i?"

Frisk's voice, unwillingly, got darker.

 _ **"You know it all, sans."**_

Sans' pupils were gone, but quickly came back as he kept himself sane. He held the kid for a bit longer, and Frisk clutched gripped his hoodie like a lifeline.

"I am sorry, I'm not my old self yet."

"guess these things take time, kid."

Sans would have snapped at Chara, or blame here for doing countless genocides. Now that he knew both of them were swayed by a vengeful mother of his, sans wasn't really feeling like FIGHTing those kids - he would still pick a bone with Chara, though.

Eventually, Frisk got discharged a week after that. He started living with Sans, Papyrus and Aster, besides having to get a medical check-up at Alphys' lab every now and then.

Frisk was not allowed to be schooled until next semester, since he had some catching up to do. Thankfully, he had some SOUL fragments from Aster, which gave him the ability to process information much faster. He prepared his first year in the Art and Design major, while his fellow students were already approaching final examination period.

The human boy did not go out much, befriended some monsters in the neighborhood and hung out at Grillby's. Papyrus complained about how limited Frisk's entourage is going to be, but sans reassured his brother.

"the kid will be alright paps, besides, those are just grillbz regulars."

"BUT HE STILL GOT TO FILE HIS PERSONAL INFORMATION TO GET HIS ID"

"got his folder ready, all we need to do is get it to the registration office."

"AND WHY DID YOU NOT DO THAT ANY SOONER ?!"

"ain't nobody there to make them official, Paps"

Papyrus gasped, that did not exactly make any sense, the Monster Kingdom could not be running on autopilot now, could it?

* * *

Chara was on Lunch break, after listening to three hours of Gerson's Food History. She almost dozed off, and all that talk about exotic food made her hungry. She went to the dessert court first, picking her favourite Chocolate-filled Muffin. Although she wanted to keep herself in shape, she couldn't get rid of her chocolate addiction. It made any nutrition program useless, so she gave that up and sticked to just salad and some soup.

Along her muffin, it wasn't that much, and she thought she wouldn't gain weight again. Yesterday, however, her hopes were crushed by the bathroom scale. She gained another kilogram, despite sticking to the same menu for lunch and dinner. She might had a few mishaps from time to time - and couldn't fight the temptation of eating chocolate pastry - but she was pretty sure she exercised enough not to gain weight.

Chara was thus, for the whole day, irritated by her weight gain. Her friends kept at bay, they conversed a minimum and left jokes aside. An angry Chara was never something you should get on her bad side, and the fallen SOULs knew about that more than anyone else. Still, someone dared to call her in that state, as the phone rang pretty loudly in the empty cafeteria.

"What?"

"Ambassador Chara, this is Ralph from the registration office."

Chara couldn't recall who the hell was Ralph, but has gone past that point.

"What is it?"

"Sorry to interrupt ..."

 _you better be_ , thought Chara, wondering if she should just hang up.

"... But you're the only officer from the Kingdom I could get hold of"

As usual, said Chara with a sigh, she wondered how the country ran itself if she only get to be on duty every other weekend.

"Where are the others, _again?_ "

"It is a mess in here, Ambassador, Sans and Papyrus are busy accompanying King Asgore on his country tour. Queen Toriel has been sick for a few days, probably from exhaustion. Mettaton was supposed to fill her seat temporarily, but he said he had concerts planned this month and needed, I quote, 'to focus' ".

 _Great, did they forgot I am in my last year of college?_ Chara was a little irritated by how random the country she represents was. Monsters seemed to think that, five years after, they could still run their country Underground style. Although Chara delegated some of her duties and suggested a few names to King Dad as representatives, everyone loved ditching their duties for jobs they liked or to fool around the human country.

"Okay, um, Ralph was it? Please send me the paperwork to approve through someone from town, I'll have them ready for you by tomorrow or the next day."

"Thank you, Ambassador."

Ralph hung up, leaving Chara with a cold soup she discarded. She ate her muffin in hasted, and went to her first afternoon workshop.

Back in the Monster Capital, sans and Ralph were chatting just after Chara was done talking to the only clerk in the registration office. Monsters seemed to not understand the meaning of office hours, except the Snowdin rabbit sisters who showed up occasionally.

"so, demon ambassador is going to sign and stamp this for me?"

"Yes, sans, yes. I just need to get hold of someone to deliver _all of this_ before you get your papers ready." Sans chuckled, he had an idea in mind but needed Frisk's help for it.

"hey kid, care to come with me for a quick ride?"

"Sure sans, where to?"

"human capital"

"M'kay, I'll grab something to wear and I'll see you in a bit"

Sans grinned, then turned back to Ralph who talked to one late colleague about how messed up some demands were.

"what up, pal, some bone you can't chew?"

"Make them twenty, Sans, twenty ! Bratty and Catty IDs are ready but they won't take them because they are too plain ! Since when registration offices do customized IDs to anyone ?!"

Sans chuckled, that would not be surprising coming from those too.

"huh, they want glossy pens on it or something?"

"Yeah ! and add cool job titles rather than just the generic 'Supermarket Clerk'. "

"maybe they should _cash in_ later for that kind of extra."

Ralph did not want to laugh in between rants, and was still going on his other cases

"But that's the least of my problems, Mettaton wants his ID to have 'Mettaton' on it when his birth certificate says 'Happstablook'. When I suggested him to change names, he said he couldn't deny his fabulous family lineage ..."

"talk about spotlight effect ... gimme those boxes, my help is here."

"But that's the unregistered human, you can't -"

"i'll use a shortcut, y'know?"

Frisk was given boxes and followed sans without saying a word. He was a little apprehensive at the idea of visiting a human city, but running an errand with sans wouldn't be that bad, or would it?

* * *

Frisk and Sans arrived at some empty street, where no one could see portals forming up from nothing. Frisk wondered why they were not going straight for their destination, then asked.

"Who are we waiting for?"

"undyne"

"What?! Wh-wha-what is she doing here?" Frisk was bad at dealing with Undyne, her eager and sometimes pushy nature often caught him off guard. He also heard she worked for Chara, hence his surprise.

"she's taken us to demon gurl's place, we both can't carry all those boxes all the way there, and my eye is kinda losing it."

Frisk did not want to go and see Chara right away, and almost felt like fleeing the vicinity ...

"kid, come on, **_do you wanna have a bad time?_** "

... but Sans was persuasive enough to keep him around, right as Undyne finally showed up to give them a ride.

"Hey Sans, who's the new punk?"

"some kid we found dragging himself out from Mt. Ebott. name is frisk."

Undyne glared at Frisk for a while, she somehow felt he was familiar but couldn't remember where she saw him before.

"Anyways, hop in ! I'll show you around the city !"

Sans and Frisk entered the jet black car, as it rode for a good thirty minutes. Undyne showed them the few notable places she knew of, mostly manga cafés, official buildings, and gymnasiums. She also went by Chara's college, since it was on the way.

After they arrived, Frisk stayed in the car because he feared that eventual meeting with Chara. Undyne shrugged and took three crates by herself, leaving a light one for sans along a small folder.

When Chara saw Sans and Undyne, she was glad she could get rid of the pursuing Arthur, her ex from the surface. The former bully still couldn't stomach how she could just leave him like that, and continued inviting her or tail her home. Chara wanted to just beat him up, but her image of ambassador would surely take a hit if she did.

When Arthur saw both monsters closing up to Chara, he clicked his tongue and left with his crew, who waited for him two streets away. Chara took a deep breath, thanked Fishface and Bonehead, then started taking the boxes inside.

Before Sans went for the car to safely teleport Frisk away, Undyne talked to her.

"Hey punk, there is that new punk that just got out of the Underworld in the car, wanna shake hands with them?"

* * *

 _ **Aru here,**_

 _ **Well, that was a lot ot blabbering, longest chapter so far too - yeay.**_

 _ **The office clerk thing was a friend's idea, turned out it worked well with me having an internship - in an administrative office, too.**_

 _ **Next chapter will have a lot more action, probably. Can't say that much about Saturday though, it's a pacifist run after all - albeit a corrupt one.**_

 _ **Anyways, R &R please, or in that case vote and review if you like this - or not.**_


	6. Beneath the Skin

Frisk cowered away, seeing Chara coming out from the house and looking for him. The boy ran down the empty streets of the human city, without noticing he used a black portal to get that far. When Frisk looked up, it was where Sans dropped them off in the first place.

The streets were getting a little crowded around that area, who boasted a few more shops, a primary school and a common house. Frisk looked at the odd sign, immediately recognizing the human SOUL colors. He took a peek at an open window, and noticed three girls having lunch.

"Man, Chara's on edge lately. She barely talks to us and focuses more on her studies." said an blonde girl with a red ribbon. Frisk looked at the cloth and caressed his arm, where the ribbon used to cover Chara's wounds.

Another girl with glasses wrote something on a paper, then handed it over to the ranting blonde. She looked a little surprised at the content, then looked at the shy person next to said glasses girl. The girl, in a dancer outfit, pointed at something strange by the window. When all girls hurried to check it out, they saw a boy running away.

Elaine wrote on Umeno's palm, a language they both established to keep things to each other. In short, she signaled to her equally mute friend that she knows the boy from somewhere. Umeno widened her violet eyes, quickly asking from where she knows that boy.

Elaine wrote his name on Umeno's palm, who then tugged Sabrina's sailor uniform.

"What is it now? Another stalker? "

When Umeno handed Sabrina another piece of paper, she gasped. Save for a sentence, it was her usual journal note.

 **"Frisk was here."**

"Whaaaat ?!"

Frisk heard that loud exclamation, hiding two houses away from where he almost got caught. He knew Chara had friends, and they were no ordinary humans to boot. That made him sigh in relief, but had him worried as well. She seemed to distance herself again, perhaps was it _that_ human's fault. The one who followed Chara to her apartment, then retreated with a bunch of other humans.

One she apparently had some history with.

Back at Chara's apartment, who froze when Frisk abruptly used magic. Sans was unsure how that happened, but Undyne found that cool.

"Hey, that punk is a coward but he got nice magic tricks."

"didn't expect competition in my department."

Both monsters in the living room grinned, but Chara simply sipped her golden flower tea. She tried to process _again_ what happened earlier.

She saw Frisk, and ran towards him. She doesn't know why, but she had an urge to hit him, snap at him, and lecture him again. She wanted a proper closure to what they shared, but couldn't deliver in time because he just went in some portal.

She can still feel the air fizzling, and a dark hole quickly closing up on his small figure. Chara stood there, clenching her fist so hard that her nails bled her pale skin. It was as if the world itself denied her a proper end, willing to further a relationship in hiatus. Truth is, Chara may not feel much towards Frisk anymore, but she doesn't not hate him.

Going back into the house, she made some tea to gather her thoughts. Sans grabbed some half-full ketchup bottle, and Undyne took out some alcohol from a bar she built herself. Both monsters engaged in some cumbersome conversation, leaving Chara the leisure to think about what happened. Most of all, she wondered if she was _really_ through Frisk. She knew it was to punch the crap out and say everything she wanted to say for so long, but she has not thought once of staying put.

"Hey, Bonehead"

Sans was in the middle of teasing Undyne with Her and Alphys' blooming relationship, dodging a spear that left _yet another_ hole in the wall.

"Fishface, take some stuff down the basement to fix what you did."

Undyne simply obeyed with a UGH at Sans' direction, who sat there chuckling then chugging what's left of his bottle. Chara was getting a little irritated, yet had no intention to argue now, she just wanted answers.

"You said your Dad gave Frisk some SOUL fragments? Is there any danger on the Child?"

"why would you care, demon gurl? thought you're no longer feeling _Frisky_ about him."

Chara almost snapped out at him, but Sans reacted just in time and froze her body still.

"Tch."

"we can have a conversation without you showing **chara-cter** , sit down and sip your tea."

Chara reluctantly obliged, and listened to what Bonehead had in mind.

"m'kay, so as far as i know, kiddo's vitals are okay, he also got a lot smarter and can use some magic from pops. i mean, nothing too draining."

"You sure about that?"

"yea, as long as the kid doesn't not get too emotional."

Chara flinched at the thought, she knew there will be something wrong with any kind of Monster injection. Having Aster beneath the skin could make Frisk different, and it got her to regret denying him her SOUL samples after what happened. Sans left shortly after stepping into another shortcut, he had to find the kid before he does something stupid.

* * *

In another part of the human town, Arthur had been gathering a few shady fellows of his to get supplies. He needed "date rape drugs", and used his network of rich kids to get just enough for spiking a drink or two. He manage to get hold of Chris, who knew of most the drug dealers in the rich district."

"Hey, pal, if you got any Valium left, hit me up."

"Would some Rohypnol do? Valium stocks are low these days man."

"Nah, even some GHB or GBL will do, or Ketamine if you have nothing else at hand."

"I'll ship you a bit of everything, you can do that weird mix of yours and put it in a punch bowl or something."

Arthur thanked Chris, hung up and looked at the ceiling in his room. Pictures of Chara, of different size and quality, were taped there. Shots of her eyes, lips, skin or or other full body shots filled Arthur's papered ceiling with every expression of hers. He slowly licked his fingers, then lips, itching at the prospect of finally getting to eat her up.

Arthur, besides being a bully, was also becoming a stalker and a eventual rapist. He was a little bored of people flocking around his family's wealth, and became a bully of sorts to contrast with that image. Even so, people continued to gather around him, people similarly fed up with their fortunate families and in search for any stimulus. He still managed to pass classes because he wasn't exactly stupid, but he barely given any interest in family gatherings or golfing.

Hitting people was fun at first, he could see them squeal and plead for mercy, he could get anything he wanted from him. He was not in need of money or food, he just wanted to humiliate people because it sounded fun. His parents wouldn't care much about him, however, fixing incidents with a bribe or a phone call, then simply go back to what they were doing. Arthur hated how his parents simply provided him with means, and left him to fend for himself. He couldn't get hold of their attention yet, so he tried to gather someone else's.

Chara happened to be there when he needed someone the most, hence his fixation on her. At first, he thought he could tease her like any other newbie that came to school. It was more even exciting to have the Monster Ambassador pounded into submission, but he Arthur had not accounted for her fierce nature or her friends. He sent a few henchmen to threaten her, but she had not retaliated until they cornered her in a dark alley. He saw her punch, stab and dispose of a couple grown men with ease. Strangely enough, he loved the sight of her harming trash, more so when it was at unfavorable odds.

Since then, Arthur stayed low, taking pictures of Chara whenever he could. He got information about her from the ring of her friends's classmates, and looked for her constantly changing schedule. It took many a gift and almost genuine confessions to have Chara even consider him, which got him even more interested at her. They started "dating", and for a little while, they looked like a legit college students' normal couple. Of course, Chara had stopped bullying people since forever, which made Arthur think he should stop doing that openly. He started treating "trash" like human beings, hoping that she would notice that.

He could see in her eyes that she was not completely into him, but brushed the thought aside and continued dating her. His need for skinship was killing him, and everytime they exchanged pecks or cuddles, he craved her much more than he would have thought. Chara never gave him the chance to fulfill that need, however, leaving him to think there was something behind her constant refusal.

His searches were unfruitful, and him questioning Chara almost daily about the matter made her slowly drift away from his grasp. She eventually broke up when he almost slipped a hand under her skirt to feel her up, earning a slap and much scolding. After being shut down by a slammed door, he gritted his teeth. He got too eager and ruined his most meaningful "relationship", making him go back to look for more stimulus. Girls after that felt the same to him, as he made out with every bee buzzing over his money. Even the most chaste of people would fall for him, making him try to spike their drink to go past their initial shyness.

He slept with most - if not all - girls in his class, but it did not made him feel the slightest goosebump. His search for pleasure and thrill was halted, as long as he couldn't get hands on _his_ Chara, who got even busier during College. He followed her everytime he could do to her apartment complex, but he either got scared by Undyne or there was too many people down the street to attempt anything.

When he hung out last time near her house, after giving up because two monsters were there, he noticed a boy in the car. He had no idea who that was, but that kid was gazing at Chara's window for the most part. He did not hear his fellow bullies call his name, and simply watched Chara getting out of the house and trying to catch up to the boy.

A kid his age, who almost looked like her, jumped into nothing and disappeared.

Arthur knew nothing about magic, but if that kid could use that, he probably knew Chara before she got out of here. In a fit of rage, he kicked a few trash cans before stomping on the ground and going back home.

He found the root cause, the evil, the one that denied him eating Chara up. He could take his revenge on him, but he had no idea of that kid's whereabouts. After much thought, he sticked ot his initial plan : snatch Chara during prom and have her fulfill his lustful desires.

* * *

 ** _Aru here,_**

 ** _When you need to actually research for something suspicious in order to make the story not look completely shitty, you kinda wonder how people writing Fanfictions manage to pull out these plots._**

 ** _If you don't like what I am doing, you're probably right - it's legit crappy crap-crap and I know it. If you do though, throw a vote or a review or something, very much appreciated._**

 ** _Aru out,_**


	7. Gnossienne (I)

Chara had been through her paperwork for the rest of that day, barely winking before soundly falling asleep. She had left the last few items of monster registration, among which figured a certain "W.D. Frisk" that recently filled his paperwork.

Come morning, her eyes laid on that particular file, as she slowly took it and read it carefully. After stamping and signing where needed, she stopped again to read the heavily redacted file.

Frisk was a former human with some records unknown to the Monster Kingdom, and Chara had to clear that up before submitting his papers to the proper channels. She sighed at the amount of offices to visit, going through town with Undyne to collect the necessary data.

"Hey Punk, what's up with that file? Is it important?"

"Yep, it is the other "Punk" like you say. He needs an ID but humans have not givn all the info I need."

"Hey, that'll be cool, that kid looks like a good match for you too."

Chara was surprised Undyne has no memory of Frisk, but then again she wouldn't have much either. Last time Frisk met Undyne, he killed her in her determined form. Any recollection of that melted with the pacifist RESET, as well as the barrier shattering. If anything, Undyne thought Frisk was cool because he could use some magic, unlike the other humans she met so far. She couldn't wait to spare with that human.

"Nah, you know ... I had enough trouble dealing with that human trash that follows me _almost_ everyday."

"Surprised that Arthur guy has not been turned in yet, or on the other side of my spear ... but I guess we cannot go all in with all your duties, right?"

Chara smiled, she would love to inflict some pain upon all those who oppose Monsterkind's return to the surface. Her Dad does not want any conflict however, and her Mom might just go crazy worried about it if she knew.

"Guess not, we cannot do anything like you crazy cooking gigs, Fishface."

To that, Undyne grinned like crazy. She started to love her "cooking" when Chara visited her and Alphys' house when they jsut got out of the Underground. It was messy as always, but that mixture of minced meat and crushed vegetables tasted okay. Undyne was also fine to fix her kitchen everytime she cooked, but Alphys managed to stop her before it turns into a battlefield.

"So that's the Punk you had a crush on before coming up here?"

Chara blushed madly, she did not expect Undyne to remember that in particular. Fishface told her Sans gave her a quick view of what happened, since Undyne wondered why Chara was so out of it last time they were together. Chara simply scoffed at the idea, she no longer felt that much for Frisk ... yet she really wanted to see him again _for reasons that totally make no sense._

"Undyne, we're in the admnistrative street, let us hit those offices before I can finally get to that prom night in one piece."

* * *

Frisk has been out of breath for a while, he does not even remember when he ran that. Strangely enough, whenever he thinks of escaping, something dark sucks him in and take him just far enough. He no longer thought of that when a familiar blue shortcut popped out.

"kid ... gimme ... a break ... will ya?"

"You okay there sans? I'm sorry I ran ... I ..."

Whatever Frisk wanted to say got choked by his urge to cry. Sans simply shrugged and patted the kid's head.

"i feel ya kid, i feel ya ... anyhoo we gotta head home and um ... hope you're getting a card soon."

Sans was maybe bad at parenting, but he did get an interesting find during that little incident : demon gurl was not totally over Frisky.

He smirked a bit, making Frisk wonder why as Sans opened up a portal home. Frisk jumped in, hesitating to miss a chance to see Chara again. After he told himself he may get another shot, he felt slightly better about it.

Both enjoyed another night in the couch, but Frisk decided to have a drink for once. He was old enough to, and he could still get one without an ID. Sans looked at him twice or thrice before asking :

"you drinking your problems away kiddo?"

"I'm not ! I've already tasted wine as a child ! I can handle alcohol ..."

Sans just sighed again, kid really wanted to drown his love life in red wine - which made sense, color and all. He threw a jacket at Frisk, grabbed his own pair of slippers and his blue hoodie and went upstairs.

"lemme check if capt'ain paps is awake before sailing away, mate."

"Aye Cap'tain !"

Frisk almost shouted that, but muffled his voice just on time not to wake the sleeping Papyrus.

"What of your shift today, Sans?"

"not like our own king fluffybuns will work during prom night, but i'll still drop by his house for the night"

Prom night, Chara would be there. Frisk felt bad not being by her side, but quickly reminded himself of the situation. There was no need to grieve that much, and maybe one night at the barstool will fix it.

Grillby had just enough of some regulars' antics and drinking problems, he found himself serving two extra customers a bottle of red wine and a couple beer cans.

Grillby looked at both Sans and Frisk in the actual mess that was his shop, feeling like those two got a little closer again. Of course, he remembers bits of the genocide route. He smiled with non-existent lips, and a gentle hue of orange fire.

That was until Frisk started feeling really bad, his left eye was dyed red and he coughed a familiar substance. Black vomit was on the table, dirtying the pristine looking soil of the establishement. Grillby hardly bothered with that, but sans' panic state had him worried though.

Sans had no idea what is happening, he guessed it was another SOUL malfunction but did not expect that to happen now of all times. He called Frisk out to no avail, one the kid eyes was replaced with an empty socket. Black mud dripped from his mouth and right eye, and he looked like he tried to say something.

Sans readied himself to hurt the kid, pinning him down on the wall and readying bones just in case.

"what the hell, kiddo?"

"SsAaNs ... Ii NnEeEeDd ... TtOo SsAaVvEe ... CcHhAaRrAa"

With that reverberating in every corner of the bar, waking up a few drunkards who asked for hangover medicine, Frisk was no longer there.

Sans undone his magic, the kid just sucked himself into a portal. Bonehead wondered where that SOUL injection has gone wrong, the kid vitals were fine . His emotional state might be the cause, but it wouldn't make Frisk look like that horrible self of his.

The genocidal Frisk cannot be back.

* * *

Earlier that day, when Chara was done fighting for Frisk's paperwork, she was back at her apartment after calling a few friends. Alphys, Undyne, and the three lost girl SOULs where home with her, ready to go shopping for prom. The two monsters just tagged along because they needed fashion advice. Sabrina and Umeno were good at those things, but Elaine and Chara usually wore sweaters and dancing outfits almost exclusively.

"I- I- do not know about this, Undyne, do they have um ... Monster sizes?"

"Come on Alph, they must have something for large hum- AW ! why the tail whip though? Wanna spar or something?"

"Undyne, seriously calling your girlfriend "fat" in front of everyone?"

Umeno scribbled something and handed it to Sabrina, who always wondered where this girl stores all those notes within her.

"AHAHAHAHA !"

Sabrina showed that Chara, who giggled then handed it to a battle-ready Undyne threatening Alphys to use her "amazing fighting abilities". When Fishface read that note, she was going all shades of red.

"That Fish Monster is a clumsy one, but that makes her also cute."

Alphys read the note and laughed quietly, prompting the blushing Undyne to cuddle her nervously to fluster her too. All three girls mimed a "get a room you two" before everybody started laughing at how silly they were.

Elaine took Chara's hand, and squeezed it then released her grip. Whenever that quiet person does that a few times, Chara knew there was something wrong with her. Elaine used that along scribbling on palms to get herself understood or ask for help. She waited for the others to go wait for the car to take Chara aside and let her know.

"What is it, Elaine?"

Elaine's fingers trembled before she started to write her message, and Chara slowly went from a smile to a neutral expression. Frisk was near the SOULs' house when he "teleported" his way out of Chara's reach. It was quite strange for him to land there, but maybe Sans had an idea about how his dad SOUL bits work.

Chara thanked Elaine by pecking her cheek, making the shy girl embarrassed. She was not fond of physical contact either, but was comfortable with her friends doing minimal skinship. Both girls got on the back seats of the car, along Sabrina. Alphys got permission from Chara to seat in the passenger spot, to which the Fallen agreed to. She was eager to make the two monsters love each other, given she can no longer do that herself.

The five-people squad got into the capital's massively diverse mall. There was pretty much aeverything one could ever need to buy in that multitude of stores. Chara winced at the crowded place, sticking to her group to not bump into people too much. The girls raided the 23rd floor, and went for a popular brand that made simple yet pretty dresses for occasions such as a prom ball. They picked up each something true to their "character", not minding what the store suggested them.

Undyne went for a black tank top and a pair of rugged jeans, she added a black leather jacket on top of it and took a few spiked accessories. Chara absolutely loved it, her two friends were a little hesitant to point out how scary she was with that kinf of getup. Alphys showed up next with a ... pretty red dress and pearls she spotted two stores earlier. She also took a little black purse with her, and slightly high heels that made her wobble a bit.

"Hey there Sexy ! You never dared to wear something like that before ~"

The human girls giggled at Undyne's cat call, making Alphys so embarassed she hurried herself back to the dressing room.

"I- I- I- am going to c-c-change these, they're too t- t- tight on me."

The rest of the girl picked up similar things, going for a full dress and some shoes. They also hitted the make-up stand, and Elaine stood the most because she never wore any kind of make-up before. Her lips were a little more enhanced once dyed in pink, and her eyelashes got a little more volume that would catch any faint hearted man unaware.

"Gorgeous, you really are gorgeous that way, you ballet freak."

Elaine giggled because Sabrina managed to spot the ballerina shoes under the light pink; fluttery dress she picked for tonight. Sabrina hurried with her clothes at hand and managed to find heels that were not too steep for her little ballerina friend. They were uncomfortable at first, but Elaine managed to walk around without falling more than twice.

Sabrina traded her boyish attire for a blue dress that goes barely past her ankles, Chara whistled as the blonde passed and gave her a comic wink. The dress was also adorned with a red scarf, since Sabrina decided to take her ribbon off and let her hair untouched.

"Guess Valiant gonna like what he sees"

"N-n-n-n-no way Juicy gets anything about clothing ! He is too damn dense for his own good, UGH!"

Chara also took her purchases home, not showing anyone anything despite their constant "friendly harassement" at her to see how she looks like. While Undyne left her at the apartment to change and took the girls to their home to get ready - and take Alphys to a date with the car - Chara hurried up to try her "secret" outfit, a dark blue dress with thin violet strips. She chose that because she thought of Frisk while dressing herself up, which was idiotic given she _moved on._

As she got out, later that night, from the apartement complex she lived in, two shadows foilowed her until she managed to get a cab. One jumped back into a fancy car that took him on an alternate route to the prom ball, the other vanished as it spewed out blood and dark stains.

* * *

 ** _Aru here,_**

 ** _Instead of trying to explain by myself how's that title relevant to anything, here is a definition straight from the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows - It is a thing, yes._**

"Gnossienne _: n._ a moment of awareness that someone you've known for years still has a private and mysterious inner life, and somewhere in the hallways of their personality is a door locked from the inside, a stairway leading to a wing of the house that you've never fully explored—an unfinished attic that will remain maddeningly unknowable to you, because ultimately neither of you has a map, or a master key, or any way of knowing exactly where you stand."

 ** _Also, this had to be split in two, but since I've almost written the whole thing I do not feel like making you wait for an extra week - but that means no updates Next Wednesday._ _That also means only Three Times Below will gets its regularly scheduled update._**

 ** _If you feel like doing so, Vote and Comment please - you can be mean and constructive, I do not really care anymore about how crappy this is getting at._**


	8. Gnossienne (II)

**_Just a fair warning before you start read this, it contains a mildly explicit, near rape scene. You have now been warned, read at your own risk._**

* * *

The Capital College Prom Ball was pretty much more of a celebrity gathering than anything else. Considering that most kids were wealthy - save for Chara's friends and a few lucky students - there was anything a healthy college student could ask for. Alcohol distribution was still supervised by the student council, and a few teachers kept an eye on the party while enjoying some of it themselves.

Arthur had been hiding all the way down the girls' locker room, as he obtained a spare key from another of his numerous bedmates. He looked upon the dimmed hallway and grabbed a walkie, checking upon a few things.

"Beta One, This is Alpha, is C ready to drink? Over."

"Not yet, Alpha, they are still saying goodbye to their followers. Over."

Arthur gripped his white, spotless tuxedo from sheer excitement, he both fulfilled his silly habit of commanding "troops" and will soon have a taste of Chara. He wished she could dismiss all her Ambassador duties quickly enough, so he can start putting his cocktail in her drinks.

Chara had enough of trivial chatter and handshakes with the administration, teachers and dignitaries present to the party. She wanted something strong to start her final night with her friends, as she looked for them among dancing young adults.

Chara quickly spotted Umeno with Rahim, who was just there to keep her safe. Although she was no longer bullied and had her own club activities, Chara was concerned about Arthur going for the lost SOULs rather than her. In another corner, Elaine and Pravda were enchanting a few whistling boys and girls, the pair had excellent artistic ability yet felt embarassed with all the commotion they created. Valiant and Sabrina just sat near the food counter, bickering about some dumb issue as they confused the cooking club students.

Seems Chara could enjoy the party on her own for now, plus Arthur wasn't there and neither was F-

A shadow appeared in the dark, far corner of the ball room. Eyes dyed in a bloody red and black mud slowly dripping from their mouth. Chara shuddered when her crimson orbs met those oddly soothing eyes, those that could only be his. Chara was just about to think of Frisk, and found him there ... or was it him?

The shadow quickly disappeared, and so did the dark stains and the red flares. People were unaware of what happened seconds ago, Chara seemingly being the only one who saw that thing in the room. Chara quickly drank homemade punch one after the other, not noticing the little bottle on the hands of the barman in charge - Chris. He had prepared, per Arthur's orders, a slow but steady drugging process : for each drink, he slipped drops of the drug cocktail he hid in his long sleeve. Chara, who was normally very perceptive, got bothered by her Frisk vision and failed to notice her successive spiked drinks.

Chara got approached by a few fellow students, who congratulated her and wished her good luck for her future duties. They were expecting her usual polite manners, but got a little distraught by how naughty she was with both genders. She grabbed arses, whispered advances, and was looking quite drunk to be honest. Chris proposed to take her to the restroom, but Sabrina came in first and snatched her before anyone makes a fuss about it.

"Ah, hey ~ you're pretty, blondie."

"Chara, snap out of it ! I thought you could take on slightly alcoholic homemade punch ! Geez ..."

Sabrina dragged Chara to the restroom, while Arthur, hidden in the nearby locker room, was frustratred by the intruder. He needed to dispose of Sabrina, thus he had some chloroform and a handkerchief. He had not bought enough to make Chara's friend for too long, but was certain nobody will notice anything before he was done.

Sabrina dropped Chara to vomit, waiting by the sinks until her intoxicated friend was done throwing up her insides. Sabrina was worried, since Chara had no idea who she was or whom she was with. The blonde suddenly got gripped and muffled with a soporific cloth, dropping on the floor pretty quickly. Arthur checked upon Chara, who looked dumbly at him, then grinned and mistook him for another boy she could tease.

"I'd kiss you sweetie ~ but I have puke brea- URGH !"

"Gross ... Er, I mean, take your time honey. I'll have you rest in the locker room."

Arthur took that span of time to grab Sabrina's phone and send a text on her behalf, telling the girls she took Chara home with a cab. Although Elaine and Umeno found her speech pattern a little weird, they told the boys about it and talked about checking on her later.

The ecstatic boy smirked, Chara had finished throwing up and was limping close to the door, mumbling something he couldn't get. He slowly got down on his knees, wiped out her drool, vomit and tears. Giving her a gum to chew, he realized his object of interest was really high on his favorite cocktail.

Arthur took Chara's jaw, and substitued her muscles with his hand to chew the citrus-flavored gum. He loved touching her slightly round chin, his hands were caressing her porcelain skin, and her hollow red eyes were all he wanted before eating her up. Arthur slowly dragged her to the locker room, after making sure nobody was out of the ball room.

"Beta 2, do you hear me out? Anybody coming down the locker room? Over."

"Alpha, everybody is partying, teachers included, Over."

* * *

Arthur was delighted to finally start eating his object of desire, not bothered by the unclean floor or the lack of benches. He laid a groggy Chara on the farthest bench from the door, and started caressing her hair. She looked okay with it, but that did not felt arousing enough for him. He knelt and gripped some it, smelling whatever shampoo she used. Thankfully, it was his favorite Cinnamon flavor, and it made him shiver whenever he wanted to kiss her pretty forehead.

His sly hands wanted to get rid of that dress already, but his maniacal giggle suggested he could wait just a little more before doing that. He pulled the gum out of her mouth, plunged his tongue to play with hers, and harassed her immobile lips for a while. Chara had not reacted much, except for a little jolt when the intruding tongue started moving around her now lemon-flavored mouth.

Arthur recalled the Sabrina problem, and called his accomplices to put her somewhere else, anyone could go at the restroom and find her there. Sabrina was transported to a nearby lounge, thanks to the intervention of Chris and his crew. They pretended to go bring more punch and glasses since their third bowl was already empty. When Sabrina was left in a sofa and the room was locked again. They got back with their supplies. The blonde intruder was also given an extra dose of chloroform just in case she wakes up too early, regardless of whether that will cause her any complications.

Arthur, after receiving the cue to continue exploring the body he craved for so long, got back into kissing a mindless Chara. She looked so hollow, powerless, yet gentle and innocent. Her rosy cheeks were a little puffy given how hot the room was, and Arthur was just too eager to kiss those plenty before sucking her neck. He carefully turned her head left, exposing enough skin before digging in. Each spot he filled with a drooly, red mark of "affection", as he slowly unzipped the only piece of cloth she had besides her underwear.

"Why am I so cold?"

Arthur was surprised Chara could feel anything in her state, and waved his hand right at her eyes. She was still unresponsive, thus he continued to undress her to get a better taste. He marked his assault with those same red dots filled with hot drool, not expecting Chara to react anyway. She was actually trying to, but her body could not do a thing against what was happening.

Chara was in a dark ocean, drowning deeper as time seemed to slow down tremendously. She felt like seeing Arthur for a second, but could not ascertain anything. She suddenly felt cold, that ocean was freezing yet had a warm breeze. It flew inside her dress, filled her mouth with drool and her body with red, harmless scars. She tried to push away that body of water, and simply fall down in the abyss, but it held her close and ate her up really slowly.

She felt okay with that much skinship, more because she could not fight it rather than enjoying any of it. The earlier breeze slowly formed into a dark, physical body of hatred. It started tearing up her dress like paper, hands on her breasts. Fondling them and sucking the tip, growling like a hungry beast, the dark being also looked to feel her nether regions. Arthur was, at that time, the dark beast Chara saw in her psychedelic dream. He was rubbing the fabric of her panties as her buried himself to taste her modest, yet appealing chest.

Chara's induced drowsiness started shifting into a state of fear, as the assaulting force in her dream state was not giving her time to breathe. She mumbled a stop that haven't reached the frenzied Arthur, who started undressing himself. Feeling himself up as he watched the trembling girl, he smirked wryly at the sight. Chara seemed lost, started to move her lips again and spoke a little louder.

"St ... ease ..."

"What did you say, you untainted virgin?"

Arthur thought he heard her trying her to say stop, making him both angry and eager to abuse her. He slowly choked Chara, as he felt himself up some more, triggering a nightmare in the girl's demented state. Chara remembered bits and pieces of her past abuse, feeling something taking her breath away. Four men tying her up to the mattress, a camera running in the background, two pair of hands fondling herself and feeling her up.  
Whenever Chara tried to fight it, a hand slapped her, and two other men took their turns to hold her while the others made sure they had everything in tape. Arthur slapped her as she raised her hand, filled with his fluid, and somehow managed to taint his clothes. He almost felt he should punish her, but thought he could do that by rubbing himself against her. He executed himself, triggering gasping breaths from Chara, then an unwilling moan.

The Fallen could only see her captors reproducing what Arthur was doing to her, she had no idea that the assault was real, but that dream was akin to virtual reality. Their grins, hungry gazes, twitching hands, and hardening appendages were no hallucination. She felt those seeking entrance into her, and hated how that pleased her young body. The skin rubbing her nether realm aroused her nipples, made her feel goosebumps and urged her to free a moan. This unwilling form of sexual satisfaction disgusted her, but the more she was subject to it, the less reticent she was.

She felt she deserved it in the first place, because her parents hated her anyways. She deserved it because she could not make friends, for there are children who naturally suffer. As Chara thought of suffering, the rubbing stopped pleasing her. Arthur noticed her crying without her will, and felt like her broke her for good. All he needed to do no was to waste her for the coup de grace. He delighted his erected appendage, readying it to take what he thought a pure realm of unattainable excitement.

* * *

Slowly, the air fizzled within the room, becoming heavy as Arthur turned around to see something opening in the nothingness. He had a gun ready in case someone interrupted him, weaponry was not allowed but he manage to sneak out that piece before prom started. As soon as a shape appeared from that weird portal, he nervously shot at it. The figure did not bother dodging a single bullet, but left all six phase through it. It grabbed the confused man by his undone collar and slammed it against the wall. Arthur's head was bleeding, his body ached everywhere and he barely felt he could escape this unknown person.

Chara couldn't understand what happened, but felt the air was extremely heavy. Something frightening took her in his lap, before lifting her off that disgusting bedroom, then out of that deafeningly silent ocean. A monster that looked at her with burning red flares, then took her out to her apartment. He laid her down on her couch, patted her head then turned around.

" ... isk? "

All she heard when she regained awareness was a screech and a portal sucking in her savior. She hardly saw or felt a thing, but she was intimately convinced it was him.

* * *

 _ **Aru here,**_

 ** _I hated writing that whole risky scene, but I could not see anything else strong enough to make Chara resent Frisk later - as a kind fellow writer suggested to me._**

 ** _That was part two of this obnoxiously long chapter I had in mind - and only one of many incidents to break and build that awfully complex relationship I'm looking for._**

 ** _Anything else? Err ... yeah throw in a review if you want, or a vote maybe._**


	9. Fault Lines (I)

The Manning Family hated Chara the instant they stepped in the court session. Their son was there, shivering ever so slightly. Arthur convinced himself he had a way out, betting on his Father's money and Mother's connections. He lazily stood up and plead non-guilty to charges of sexual assault, waging on a hefty caution to bail out.

Jonathan Manning readied a suitcase earlier today, with spoils of yet another abusive acquisition. He had the know-how and the finances to get almost he wanted, except for a more discrete son. Ignoring his attempts at existing, he simply took upon himself to get him out and clear the family name every now and then.

Alice Manning, who felt different about her only son, kept nagging with Jonathan to get him out yet again. She had some assets up her sleeve, both to bury evidence and to swing that audience in their favor. All she could not bribe was Judge Minster, an uptight and unusually impartial authority in the human world. She was especially appointed to deal with that case, given how delicate it was.

Asgore and Toriel Dreemurr were there, to support Chara and meet the human that dared to defile their child. They banned Undyne from coming to the hearing, being too hot-headed and easy to pull spears out. They brought all boss monsters working in human towns : Sans, Papyrus, Alphys, Napstablook and Mettaton came along despite having their own things to do.

After listening to the prosecutor and defense attorney's arguments, Arthur Manning's freedom by caution was denied. Further audiences were scheduled in two weeks time, surprising the wealthy humans. They got up and left, throwing glares at the Monster Ambassador. Chara hadn't budged from her seat, she simply held her tears until she was in the clear to burst out.

While Arthur was being lectured _yet again_ by both his parents, something grabbed him by the collar. His parents went to the car without noticing, as they started to bicker among themselves.

 ** _Never_ _come near her again._**

A adult his age, with messy brown hair and nearly shut eyes whispered that to him before letting go. Before Arthur could even retort, Frisk opened his red-hazel eyes, glaring at the frightened human. He then left within the crowd, only meeting Sans outside the large, cold building they were in.

"you sure you got nothing to do it with, kid?"

Frisk simply nodded, signaling to Sans they should leave before Chara comes out. Sans stood still however, as he waved for his dad to come over there. Papyrus tagged along and all four people - including a hidden Frisk - went down the street to grab a meal.

"SO, WHAT WERE THE HUMANS TALKING ABOUT BACK THEN?"

"Justice, Papyrus, whatever you and your mother used to uphold back then."

"welp, strange that judge is bad at hearing what criminals got to say."

The three skeletons kept bantering while eating spaghetti, chugging ketchup or drinking coffee. Only Frisk had not ordered a thing, simply watching by the window and wondering how Chara was.

"Human, please come by Alphys' Lab tonight, we have more check-ups to do."

Frisk nodded again, neither in the mood to talk or interact in general. Similar to Chara, who had not said a word to anyone since the incident. Despite her understanding parents, and the police's numerous questions, she barely answered. Her own deposition was short yet to the point, listing what little memories she had of the incident.

Chara had a blurred recollection of what happened, only clearly remembering her rather copious amount of punch drank. She also saw Arthur on top of her, visibly ready to commit rape. She couldn't affirm a thing however, she was too weak and quite shaken to determine what was really happening. One thing she was sure about was that Frisk came to SAVE her, no matter how appalling that was.

Yes, to Chara, Frisk' sudden appearance was maybe a timely rescue. Most of all, it was her being indebted to him despite his reticence to come and live alongside her. She could not understand why he did it, but she was sure he was not himself either. The same fizzling air and monstrous presence he had back at his genocidal timeline were there.

She managed to see he same feeling of dread and despair his eyes had when he was killing monsters. What annoyed her the most were his lingering feelings, he managed to suppress his urge to kill for her after all. Chara started questioning her previous decision for a few days, until the first court audience was up. She saw him in the back, lying in wait, then exiting without a response.

She knew there, that maybe it was too late to fix anything.

* * *

Detective DeJean had enough of the Manning's long-lasting impunity, but today was a good day for him at least. The son, Arthur, was finally being charged for serious felonies. He could lock up a noble for the first time in the local police history, something close to a feat than anything else. DeJean was not really a outstanding detective, he had no particular distinction nor was promised any promotion in ten years. What kept him around was his unfathomable impartiality and cold blood, something not all cops in the capital city could say they have.

The scene had four suspects, three humans and presumably _one of monster descent._ Chara Dreemurr and Arthur Manning were found in a locker room. One presented signs of a rape attempt, while the other was violently slammed on the wall and rendered unconscious. Sabrina Patience was also found within school grounds, she was yet to be questioned because of her ongoing rest at the Grand Hospital. Blood and some muddy, dark liquid were collected from the crime scene, along male secretions on the first victim and traces of violence on her body.

DeJean munched his favorite pink Donut while sipping mildly warm coffee. He has not slept for the past three days, having been on this case non-stop. He tried questioning Arthur Manning about what happened, but could only have him confess drugging Sabrina before she rats about the spiked punch bowl. He also admitted he had a gun for safety, but said he never used the weapon that night.

Evidence proving otherwise, so Arthur hid himself behind the lawyers assigned by his mother. They denied all rape allegations and were prepared to take this to court. DeJean was okay with it, going as faras "declaring war" on the Manning Family this time.

" Fifty bucks the kid ain't getting bailed by an absurd caution. "

" Detective, are you actually betting on my client's judgment?"

" What is it, Sanders, think you can't pull off a rabbit off your hat this time?"

Sanders, an attorney from a well-known firm who had the Mannings as clients, knew DeJean prior to his current assignment. Both came from the same town and took similar yet different paths. While Brad Sanders managed to ascend in private law practice, Fred DeJean had been stuck with his reckless behavior. The detective of the fifth precinct was famous for being rash and crude, among other things. Yet, he was one of the few to live along monsters in the same apartment building

Bratty and Catty had their own room, and pawn shop two blocks from there. Being cheeky but good at business, they were doing fine with human neighbors. They befriended DeJean a wee bit, just enough to know he is a grumpy yet nice human. Fred also tried to be a good neighbor to them, but never made any significant conversation with them. Those "gator" and "cat" monsters were too loud and fiery to his taste - all of which ironically apply to him as well when he talk to his colleagues.

" John, haven't you got enough lovey-dovey time with your wife yet?"

" Maxwell, bring me two boxes of Donuts and some disgusting coffee from that machine upstairs. I'm starving."

" Lisa, when will you stop binge-watching that soap opera and send me the lab report for the Manning case?"

All three people targeted by his daily rants were a little taken by surprise, hiding their tabs, phones, or hurrying to get his usual fuel. DeJean really wanted to close the case on a win, maybe two. After all, convicting either a Manning or a monster will do great in propelling his career. When he received the long awaited lab report however, he quickly frowned before sighing plainly.

 **There is nothing similar to his substance known up to date, further inquiries can be made at the Monster Division in the lab.**

Of course there wouldn't be any tangible evidence to incriminate a monster that easily, so they had to go through their own government to ask for evidence from the Monster Kingdom. Chara received an official letter from the human President, and upon reading it, smacked her desk. Undyne ran there in a hurry, readying a spear should there be someone annoying her employer.

"What up, Punk, is there someone you wanna stab _that badly_?"

"No, Undyne ... I no longer do that since I'm talking with humans, remember ?"

"That's too bad. I loved the look you had when we fought before ... but 'guess those humans are bothering you in their own way huh ... "

Undyne had no clue about human politics, but sure knew it was something after that stupid incident at Prom. She felt sorry for Chara, but was not entirely empathic with what happened to her. After all, she killed her own so many times it was a miracle she was not ravished.

"Can you take me to the human Palace? I need to do stuff there ... and just go home after you do, it might take long."

"Nope, the Queen wants me to keep you on check at _every breath_ you take so ~ "

Connor O'Reilly, president of the human country monsters came to, was a little agitated. He was told by his counselors to disguise a meeting to have the ambassador questioned and evidence given to humans. The current president was not often acting on his own volition, being forced to cooperate with colliding agendas. He greeted Chara with his usual fake smile and seated her in a conference room, before leaving in a hurry.

" A detective, I assume?"

Chara noticed the man seating in a corner, lighting some cigarette as he proceeded forward

" Good guess, Missie. Think you remember my friends then."

" Police Officers from the fifth precinct, correct? I wonder what would you need me for, I was questioned three times alr-"

"I just really got to know where that black mud came from, you know ... I cannot think of anything else bu a monster wandering around _your_ school and somehow stopping a Manning from raping _you_. Do you have any idea of who could that be? "

Chara knew it, the police would go for Frisk and frame him, should they not get their hands on Arthur.

She did not really know what to do right away, only pondering as she looked into the eyes of the human detective.

* * *

 ** _Aru here,_**

 ** _Not sure how all this is going to turn out, but more intrigue is welcome to spice this bland story up._**

 ** _Is it yet another Cha- I mean another two part chapter? yup !_**

 ** _Next one will be the last before I go on hiatus for fixes, until then vote and review if you will._**

 ** _Aru out,_**


	10. Fault Lines (II)

_"Are you hiding something from us, Ambassador Chara?"_

The question remained in Chara's brain long after the meeting with DeJean, the human detective, ended abruptly. Reports of fights between humans and monsters arrived at the Monster Embassy, just in time for the Ambassador to bail out from being further questioned. The human detective knew that was only a setback, and planned to further question her once the occasion presents itself.

Earlier, he scrutinized that university student long enough to make some battle plan. She looked a little on the edge, and remained vulnerable after what she has been through. DeJean had no much time to lose, he discarded any diplomatic concerns and went straight to the point.

"Ambassador Chara, have you been aware of the presence of alien substances in the crime scene?"

Chara looked at the predator- like eyes of this human, he looked like he wanted to frame someone or something at all costs. She did her best to keep herself calm and collected.

"Not right away I am afraid, it only came to my attention after the local authorities sent us a report."

"I see, then are you familiar with a black substance we found near the alleged near-rape scene?"

" That is what the report said, but I have no further knowledge of that substance you're speaking of. "

DeJean remained firmly convinced the Monster Ambassador knew something about the unknown liquid they found. Chara was indeed looking away and shaking in her boots, hoping nothing would bring Frisk out in the open. She thought of ways to evade that question, and one immediately popped up as the next question came in.

"Would you like to let our personnel access your labs to investigate this black substance? We would appreciate your cooperation in catching whatever "saved" you and slammed the rapist into a wall ... _or perhaps was it you, since you possess monster genes as well?"_

Before Chara could even speak, DeJean pursued his monologue about what could have saved Chara from being raped.

"Would you assume a human with monster genes, even though drugged and mistreated, would awaken some other form and turn on the rapist? I could be wrong, but there are some individuals of yours that can move quickly from a place to another?"

The Fallen was tempted to take the blame, but on second thought, it would ruin much of the work done in the past five years. Humans and monsters had finally started cohabiting peacefully, and anything that could spark conflict would be disadvantageous to the Monster Kingdom. Chara reluctantly sticked to the first version she had in mind, hoping that would get them all out.

" I will speak to the Human government and ask our scientists whether they would look into it. You are well aware that our research facility runs on its own, and do not fully answer to my jurisdiction. "

DeJean knew beforehand that the Monster ambassador would use that "excuse" to not disclose any harmful information. He thus suspected Chara of hiding something, but could not get to the jist of it. Both interlocutors were cut off by the fighting outside, each running to their own in order to stop it.

* * *

Both Monster village and the human Capital city were a little rowdy, as random fights between monsters and humans started in a scarce fashion. Following the media coverage on the Prom incident, some humans deliberately went to taunt monsters.

"Hey ugly beast, do you want to assault students in a prom too?"

"Human, please do not believe what your people say, we no longer u-"

"You what ?-" One angry man stood in a local bar, then went on and punched a tall, skinny snake monster.

His peers gathered around to protect him, causing the assaulter to back off for a bit. His table buddies tried to go next, but the police came in and evacuated the shop, questioning everyone inside about what happened.

Similar small-scale incidents happened all over the capital city, where some areas were now shared by humans and monsters. Most police reports blamed irresponsible behavior from angry citizens, who claimed that monsters are trash and should have remained underground. A few other occurrences involved monsters fighting back, and both humans and monsters were thus convicted for the night.

Bratty and Catty almost had their shop mugged by some human robbers, who thought they could take advantage of the chaos outside. Thankfully, friends of detective DeJean were not far away from the area. They were dispatched quickly and arrested the robbers, but haven't spoke a word to the monster victims.

" Man, you're like cold "

" Yeah, super cold "

" Keep your mouth shut if you don't want to get cuffed with them ! "

One of the policemen yelled at the two coward monsters, who hid behind the counter. They waited until the human police left, then looked at each other for a while.

" Aren't we like, totally in a bad spot? "

" Yeah, totally ... should we leave town and work elsewhere? "

" We should, ASAP, things are getting hot in here "

" Hot like a hotdog !"

Back in Monster village, similar events were happening, besides that the roles were reversed. Some pissed monsters wanted to break into the human houses and chase them, given how poorly they treat their peers in the human Capital. The Collins, one of the few families that agreed to move and live along monsters, were barricading their house.

"Come out, humans, come out and tell us why are you so afraid of us !"

"Honey, do something, they're trying to break through the door"

"Go and hide downstairs, quick ! Take the kids with you, I'll try to borrow some time."

Before one of the axe-wielding, fish monsters tried to finish off the sturdy wooden door, a spear went through the garden and got planted between their legs.

"YOU STOP RIGHT THERE ! Citizen, you should be ashamed !"

The group of monsters assaulting the door turned their attention to their buddy, then to the spear thrower. Undyne, accompanied by some backup, tried to stop her kin from damaging Chara's - and the Kingdom's - reputation. While she dealt with most of the trouble-makers, some of them were getting back at the door, but two of them got tossed away by a blast.

"buddy, you should do better things than trying knock-knock jokes with an axe"

"SANS, LET ME STOP SOME OF THEM TOO !"

Papyrus sent a regular bone attack that made three rioters trip and fall miserably, while the last of them managed to slash the door open and enter.

"Drat ... Hands in the air you beast ! I won't let you near my family !"

"Out of the way, human !"

The scarred bunny monster, hopped out after Mr. Collins fired his rifle, was about to cut him down after dodging a few more shots. The man, now pretty much unarmed, closed his eyes and waited for the blade to end his life.

 _But it never came._

Something stopped the axe from reaching the human's chest, another small blade who managed to parry the sizable axe of the bunny monster.

"Frisk, what are you -"

"Back off, we should not be fighting humans !"

The monster hesitated to hit Frisk, his drinking buddy, but wasn't giving up on harming the human. He charged again and struck, but Frisk stopped his axe more than once.

"But they put our buddies in jail ... !"

Frisk could understand how desperate some monsters were, but he was getting tired of that quick resort to violence. He knew what would happen if the monster pushed him any further, the shadows crawling on his aching back.

"Along other humans ... now, ba **ck** ** _o_** ** _ff"_**

The monster was now shaking in fear, terrorized by the "genocider" red eyes. The Collins family thanked Frisk and the Royal Guards for their arrival, while Asgore and Toriel urged immediate repairs. The monsters who broke the house were the one tasked to fix it, as part of their sentence.

* * *

 _Arthur Manning, heir to the prestigious industrial family, had been sentenced to house arrest. The convict will also have to wear an electronic bracelet, and consult a probation officer once every week._

After much lobbying, Alice Manning managed to lower her son' sentence to absurd proportions, although their house was now under constant watch from the local police. Still, a Manning accused of rape and drug use had a hard blow on the family's connections. Those who supported her now might not be eager to do so next time, or so she heard from all the people she had to talk to that day.

Jonathan Manning was reading the usual stock exchange news, frowning upon his loss in many actions affliated to the family's trust. He slammed the table, spilling coffee on his favorite Pajamas as Alice turned around. She looked coldly at the man, then left for her room and stayed there for the remainder of the day.

Jonathan, after throwing his pants away in the laundry room, wore his professional attire. He suspended his usual activities, as he was assaulted by a horde of reporters. Avoiding any comments, he simply jumped into his car and was driven to the family holding office. Arthur, watching the scene from the window, fell back on his bed. He was extremely bored, bound to look at those pictures he had not ripped off yet.

Chara Dreemurr, mocking him from above, as he cursed the day he met her while taking more smuggled drugs.

 _Sabrina Patience, one of the two victims that day, is still hospitalized at the moment. Her fellow human state pupils did not mention any intent to pursue the Manning heir, but remain worried about their friend's condition._

Chara's busy agenda kept her from seeing Sabrina so far, but she managed to delay a meeting for the first time in three weeks. Hurrying to the Grand Hospital on her own, she went by the side entrance, evading another press group. Chara looked for Sabrina's room under a false name, then went to see her immediately.

She met Valiant there, who looked extremely nervous at Sabrina's condition. He was accompanied by the rest of the gang, either in tears or in a heated discussion.

"Chara, finally ! What you took you _that long_ to come ?"

"You've seen the news, Valiant ... that whole case was an ugly mess, took _that long_ to deal with"

Elaine hugged Chara as usual, and Umeno wrote a note to the Fallen before handing it to her. Chara and Elaine wrote the note, both jolting at the content.

"A boy came by today, nurse said he looks like you"

Chara could tell who that was, but went instead to try consoling Valiant, who was gripping the sheets in frustration.

"How did she ended up in that state?"

"I am sorry."

"Shut up, Chara. It's no use ..."

" ... What did you just said?"

Both Chara and Valiant were on edge, as she forgot he liked the blonde and he omitted that Chara was the other victim. Pravda took care of reminding them about the facts, as both now remained silent.

"We should leave Valiant here so he keep an eye on her." said Rahim, who asked Juicy whether he needed something to eat.

Chara left the room in a hurry, going by the same door she used. She was both embarassed by her attitude and angry at the indelicacy of Valiant. Rummaging through her bag to find her ringing cell phone, she relaxed when she looked at the caller ID.

 **"Goat Mom"**

"Yes, Mother?"

"Are you alright my child?"

Chara pondered for a minute before answering the question, making Toriel quite anxious on the other end of the line.

"I'm tired, Mother ... I'm really, really tired of all of this ..."

"It's alright, Chara ... I understand how hard it is to lead a Kingdom, and I am glad you are the one doing it ..."

"I'm sorry ... for not opening up ... I ... I ... just wanted not bother you with my pas-"

"Chara dear, you are old enough to know what to share and what not to. I understand how hard those things are to talk about but ... I'll always be for you ..."

"Thanks, Goat Mom"

Before Chara hangs up, Toriel told her about a boy in the local hospital. He were in a pretty bad shape, and kept muttering her name whenever he was a little conscious.

Chara's phone slipped out of her hand, as she processed the new information. Her SOUL ached badly, despite knowing there was no longer something she would do.

Frisk was probably dying again, and he might not make it this time.

 _Chara Dreemurr, Monster Ambassador and recently graduating from college, had been pleased there was any kind of punishement towards her assaulter. She publicly apologized for any incidents caused by monsters, and urged human authorities to do the same._

DeJean was currently yelling in his superior's office, complaining about how powerless they were in solving the Prom case. John, Maxwell and Lisa minded their own business, but could still hear the argument.

"This is prespoterous, how come Monsters have no results about a liquid that is clearly not human ?!"

"DeJean, you have bothered the monster authorities enough. You sent your people to their labs and interrupted three important meetings to question Ambassador Chara. There is also nothing you can do on the Manning front, no need to push this case any further !"

"Boss, hear me out ... There _has_ to be something out there we are missing ! We can't just keep muzzling ourselves for politics !"

"One more word, DeJean, one more word about this ... and you might get fired for good."

"F*** that, I'll show myself out"

DeJean slammed his badge and gun on the table, then stormed out of the office. His three aides would have loved to help, but there were intimidated by his bloodshot eyes. DeJean cleared his desk, took a cab home and threw said box in a closet.

"If I cannot bring justice in blue, I might just throw the uniform and **do it my way** "

* * *

 _ **Aru here,**_

 _ **As you know already, I'm taking some time off TTB and OAA to fix them as much as needed. That might last between one and three months, since I'm also starting other projects in the meantime.**_

 _ **Until then, read and vote and review as much as you feel like it. If you can Beta-read either TTB or OAA, that would be great too.**_

 _ **Aru out,**_


	11. Yellow Light

Nothing ever looked the same since the prom incident, not after the tensions stemming from it.

DeJean was still missing since he resigned, having contacted none of his colleagues from that day. Even though an investigation was conducted to find his whereabouts, it remained inconclusive.

Sabrina remained bedridden for a couple more days before being charged out. She got mad at Valiant after she learned about his dispute with Chara, who also decided to hang out around her friends for the time being.

Undyne and Sans saw each other, which usually ended in banter and broken objects. It seems Alphys was a popular topic among the two boss monsters, and perhaps enough to have Toriel join in.

She and Asgore never heard of Chara since she left a note on the house's wooden, worn out desk.

 _" I'm out for Monster Village, please help Dad do the work while I'm not here."_

Chara soon left out for Monster Village, enlisting Sans' half-hearted help after they almost began a FIGHT. Arriving there, she booked a room at the new Snowdin Inn.

Chara never thought of using the room, apart from leaving most of her luggage there. She quickly dropped by for a change of clothes, and never stayed more than an hour outside the hospital Frisk was admitted in.

* * *

 _I'm looking for a place start_  
 _And everything feels so different now._

Chara talked to herself once more, tending to yet another bedridden Frisk. She was there day and night, not minding to get enough sleep or nourishment.

He remained unconscious for at least a couple days, but she insisted to stay until he is awake.

Frisk sustained heavy damage after being fueled with a "dark" side of his soul. Chara felt guilty, he wouldn't have been in that state if it was not for her past blunders.

Still, he went a bit to far each time for her sake. Now that she think of it, she never thanked him properly for all he did.

She heard him talk, but it was not the child lying on that bed. She could tell it was another Frisk from another time, a happier one.

 _Just grab a hold of my hand_  
 _I will lead you through this wonderland._

Was she being delusional or high? She would not care less, she grabbed his immobile hand and let out a cry.

Gripping it with the little force she had now, she cried for a while. Fate made them fall apart for way too long, and they now reunite in yet another plain, white room.

They must have something for hospitals and pampering, as in him being bedridden and her doing the visiting/pampering. The thought made her grin a little.

None of Frisk's skeleton caretakers dropped by, knowing they would have to interact with Chara one way or another. Honestly, she thought it was better that way.

 _Water up to my knees_  
 _But sharks are swimming in the sea._

She could tell trouble is still in the way, that inspector was on the loose and tensions remains between races.

Truth is, even though both human and monster authorities called for a new start, Chara could tell she would have to deal with more fanatics from now on.

Nothing about Arthur came to mind, strangely enough. Nothing made her feel disgusted anymore, neither how he tried to own her or how he almost abused her.

She already went through that a eon ago, before she decided to escape to the mountain the first time around.

 _Just follow my yellow light_  
 _And ignore all those big warning signs._

Frisk's hand slightly budged, weakly gripping Chara's as she thought he said something to her, again.

He was always there, wasn't he? Whether they basked in the light, or were lost in the dark.

Whether she wanted to live or was eager to die, he was always there wasn't he?

What she did not know, is that Frisk felt the same in slumber-land. He longed to reunite with Chara, although none of them could fully admit it.

* * *

 _Somewhere deep in the dark_  
 _A howling beast hears us talk._

 **I wonder why is it me talking, or why is Chara sitting next to me.**

 **We're in a seaside house, and it's clearly a dream - kids our age cannot afford that kind of housing.**

 **That "thing" who took over me last time was around, watching us from a corner of the room. It growled as we kept on some loving banter, and watched the shore at night.**

 **Chara never bothered looking at the monster besides us, as she held my hand and tried to comfort me with her soft red eyes.**

 _I dare you to close your eyes_  
 _And see all the colors in disguise._

 **I did as asked, slowly closing my eyes to the dream world I was in.**

 **There was only darkness. No colors or light to be seen, only her breath and touch kept me safe.**

 **I could hear the screams** , **monsters and humans alike agonizing. The "beast" craved my old self, that little child escaping abusing adults.**

 **Then nothing came, only a deaf silence all around me. Even Chara was not there anymore, only a red heart shining far away.**

 **Every step I made had a colored print : light and dark blue, red, yellow, green, etc. The SOULS we saved came to mind, perhaps they were the colors to see. Other misfortuned children, like her and me.**

 _Running into the night_  
 _The earth is shaking and I see a light._

 **Something burned deep inside me, feelings I dared not share with anyone else. Guilt, hatred, shame, insecurity, and the like. All of them squirmed inside and made me feel a little nauseous.**

 **That sensation soon disappeared, leaving my body and soul. All what was left was love.**

 **Love for the one I longed to meet, love for the I dared not look in the eyes. Those bloodred, unreal eyes that frightened me at first. Those eyes full of love, lust, and all you wish to find in a life-long partner.**

 _The light is blinding my eyes_  
 _As the soft walls eat us alive._

 **All things soon bathed in a blinding light, as we moved to a cushioned, white room. There were no windows, but it was well furnished nonetheless : a couch, a TV, food that came out from nowhere, expensive carpets, chairs and table, etc.**

 **We remained there as she spoke to me, squeezing my hand and pulling me into a tight hug. As she did, the light slowly dimmed into a yellow one. A small, but warm light over us.**

* * *

In the Manning household, Arthur was being treated for yet another overdose. He had been subject to those twice since he was put in house arrest. Neither of his parents seemed to care, but the insistence of his little sister, Claire, made both Jonathan and Alice reconsider their position.

Claire was never supposed to come back to her parents' house. She was pursuing Art studies in another country. Hurrying back home to see her brother, Claire soon learned about the girl who drove her brother mad. She now harbored deep resentment for Chara, only because she really liked Arthur since she was a kid. He may not have been the best brother there, but Claire loved him more than any normal sibling would.

Strangely enough, her parents agreed to have her enroll in the same school Chara was in. It was the only institution with equivalence to her previous studies, but also because her father had connections to facilitate her transfer there. Claire basically gave her studies abroad to be near her brother - and eventually cause trouble to Chara. What she never planned for was to actually fall in love, on her first day of school, with a strange human.

* * *

 ** _Aru here,_**

 ** _Long time no see, huh?_**

 ** _Apologies for not following through those few weeks, but I had sort of a slump as well as a lot of adulting to do._**

 ** _One Abode Above is back, with one more Manning - but no DeJean yet._**

 ** _Lyrics are obviously OMAM's, 'cause I love the band._**


End file.
